ME BABY, YOU BABY

Age Range: 2 - 5

Pub Date: March 1st, 2004ISBN: 0-525-46952-4Publisher: Dutton

Rhythmic verses follow the trip of two toddlers and their mothers as they visit the zoo. After parallel illustrations trace the two early-morning scenes of waking, eating, and dressing, the children and mothers meet for a trip to visit a zoo full of mothers and their children. They visit the pigs, the cows, and birds, “Oink baby, moo baby, pretty in blue baby.” The children peek in at the leopards and the sloth. “Fast baby, slow baby,” and then the gently swimming seals, “go with the flow baby.” Softly tinted illustrations rendered in gouache bleed from the pages as if airbrushed. While the trip to the zoo, full of mothers and babies of all sizes and shapes, offers an interesting subject, the overly repetitious verse and somewhat saccharine paintings keep this from being a distinctive selection. (Picture book. 2-5)